


cat person

by asael



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Cats, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22147972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asael/pseuds/asael
Summary: Claude helps Dimitri move past a fear, and Dimitri sees Claude in a new light.Written for Dimiclaude Week 2020, day five, 'fragile/touch'.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 27
Kudos: 283





	cat person

Dimitri had been watching the kittens play for almost half an hour.

There were cats all over the monastery, it only made sense that sometimes that would result in kittens - but this was the first time Dimitri had come across them himself. He’d been on stable duty that morning, cleaning and mucking out the stalls, and he’d found them in an unused corner of one of the equipment rooms.

He’d finished his chores, of course - he was not the sort to neglect an assigned duty - but then, with an afternoon of freedom ahead of him, he’d come back.

He had been intending to spend some time on the training grounds, working on his footwork, or perhaps go to the library for an hour or two to continue his research. Sylvain had asked Dimitri to go to the nearby town with him, and he’d been considering that too, mainly in order to keep Sylvain from getting into any serious sort of trouble.

But in the end, he’d done none of that. He’d put the cleaning supplies away, washed up, and come back to the equipment room.

He tugged a stool over, took a seat on it, and did nothing at all of substance except watch the kittens play.

They were ridiculous - rolling over each other, pouncing on shadows, play-fighting. Anything they found, they used as a toy, and Dimitri was careful to stay far enough away so that they would not turn him into one as well.

He wasn’t sure where the mother was, but Garreg Mach had always been a very safe place for the animals that inhabited it. She was likely out hunting, or coaxing food from the kitchen hands, or just taking some time away from her kittens. He could see that they were well-fed and taken care of, in any case.

He was enchanted, and that was where Claude found him: alone in a dusty equipment room, watching kittens play.

“Hey there, Your Princeliness,” Claude said. He pushed the door of the room open with his foot, since his hands were full. “I didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Claude,” Dimitri said, with some surprise. “I did not expect you to come here, either.”

Claude grinned and held up the objects in his hand - a saucer and a bottle of milk. “I see you’ve met my friends. I like to come give them treats sometimes. You know, so they’ll grow up big and strong and full of energy.”

Dimitri found himself smiling. “They seem quite full of energy already.”

“True enough,” Claude said. He approached the kittens, setting the saucer down and taking a seat on the floor unceremoniously. “Maybe I feel responsible for them because we’re all Riegans.”

They _were_ Riegan Tabbies, Dimitri supposed, and he could easily see why anyone would be charmed by the kittens. It seemed Claude, too, was not immune to that sort of thing.

The kittens were already investigating Claude, sniffing at his boots and climbing onto his crossed legs. He grinned, letting them do as they pleased, and poured milk into the saucer. That distracted some of them at least, and Dimitri watched in fascination as they lapped up the milk, little pink tongues flickering in and out.

“I didn’t think you liked cats much,” Claude said, looking at him now, smiling. “Somehow you always seemed like a dog person.”

Dimitri shrugged. That was true enough. His father had kept dogs, and he knew how to treat them - knew how they could be trained, how loyal they could be, how strong and sure. He had always liked that, had always appreciated those qualities. But cats - they simply seemed to do exactly as they pleased, coming and going whenever they wished. They might have someone that they particularly liked, someone that they sought out for affection, but they never had that blind loyalty.

They were only animals, but Dimitri admired that sort of careless freedom. If pressed, he would have thought of himself as more of a dog person, as well - loyal, steady, constrained by obligation and honor. But that did not mean he couldn’t appreciate other ways. Couldn’t appreciate the animals, and the people, who walked through the world with lighter steps, unable to be caught and kept so easily.

“I always considered you more of a cat person,” Dimitri said, with a slight smile. Claude laughed so easily, his smile bright, his eyes sharp.

“Fair enough,” he said, and trailed his fingers over the fur of one of the kittens. They’d nearly finished the milk now, and some of them were wandering off, sniffing at him again, climbing up. “You don’t need to stay all the way over there, though. Why don’t you come play with them a little?”

“Ah,” Dimitri said, and he looked away. “I’m afraid I - don’t really know how.”

“It’s easy,” Claude said. “Pull a string around for them to chase, or throw a ball, or just pet them. I’ve been visiting them pretty often, so they don’t mind being handled. You can pick one right up.” He demonstrated, taking one of the kittens into his ungloved hands. It was small enough that he could lift it with just one, but he used both, holding it carefully. The kitten mewed, but didn’t struggle, only looking around itself with interest.

“They’re very small,” Dimitri said. He looked down at the gauntlets covering his hands. “I wouldn’t want to hurt them.”

Claude was quiet for a moment, and Dimitri looked up to see Claude’s eyes on him. “You won’t hurt them.” He sounded confident, absolutely certain in a way that Dimitri did not feel at all.

“This morning, I held a cup too tightly at breakfast, and crushed it,” Dimitri said. He made no attempt to soften the words, meeting Claude’s gaze head on. “My strength is - difficult to control at times. I cannot risk it.”

“Dimitri,” Claude said, and there was something gentle in his voice, something soft in his eyes. Dimitri had to look away then. “Come here.”

Dimitri couldn’t refuse, not when Claude was looking at him like that. He got off the stool and walked over carefully, lowering himself to sit next to Claude. He stayed very still as the kittens began to realize he was there, investigating his boots and legs.

“Give me your hands,” Claude said, and again Dimitri obeyed, holding them out. Claude set down the kitten he’d been holding and unhooked the fastenings of Dimitri’s gauntlets with ease, and though Dimitri was perfectly capable of taking them off without help, he didn’t say anything. He just watched Claude’s clever fingers, watched as Claude slid his gauntlets off and set them on the floor. Hands now bare, Dimitri flexed them a bit, working out any stiffness.

“You can do this,” Claude said with a quiet confidence that was difficult to disagree with. “I’ll show you.”

Dimitri expected to be handed a kitten, a mewing ball of fur, and he braced himself for it, ready to handle the creature with as much care as he could. But instead, Claude took Dimitri’s hands in his. Claude’s skin was warm, his fingertips callused, and he tugged Dimitri’s hands just where he wanted them - down to the floor, where together they scooped up one of the kittens that had been nosing at Dimitri’s leg.

Claude cupped his hands gently around Dimitri’s, showing him how to hold the kitten. It was so small, so soft, and just like the other one it didn’t seem at all alarmed to be handled. It made itself comfortable in Dimitri’s hands, wriggling just a bit but making no real effort to get away. He didn’t have to hold it tightly at all - Claude’s hands on his were light, showing him how to keep it steady without any fear of hurting it.

Dimitri was transfixed, peering at the kitten in his hands. It blinked up at him with blue eyes and then mewed softly, and he jumped, almost dropping it. But Claude’s hands around his held steady, and Claude laughed, and then Dimitri found that he was smiling too.

“I think he likes you,” Claude said. He let go of Dimitri’s hands. When they were gone, Dimitri missed the warmth of them, but Claude did not move away. He leaned in so their heads were nearly touching, looking down at the kitten Dimitri held. Carefully, he reached out to pet that soft fur.

Dimitri could not decide whether the kitten in his hands or the smile on Claude’s lips was more extraordinary. He did not want to look away from either.

The kitten mewed again and reached up, tiny paw batting at Claude’s dangling braid.

“Hey now,” Claude said, laughter in his voice, and pulled back. “Let me find you something else to play with.”

By the time Dimitri had set the kitten down - carefully, gently - Claude had found a long leather thong used for bridle repairs. He gave it to Dimitri, showed him the best way to get all the kittens chasing it, and before Dimitri knew it they heard the bells for dinner ringing.

They’d been there for hours. The mama cat had returned some time ago, but seemed content to allow them to continue. Some of the kittens had tired themselves out, falling asleep - one, amazingly, in Dimitri’s lap. Dimitri had a hundred other things he should have been doing, and he knew Claude did too, and yet -

He felt the afternoon had been well-spent.

“We’d better go,” Claude said, and bowed to the kitten’s mama, chivalrously. “Thank you, madam. Perhaps we’ll return soon.” He looked at Dimitri, head tilted to the side a bit in question, smile on his lips. “If you’re free tomorrow?”

Dimitri felt a stirring of pleasure in his chest. Pleasure at the thought of doing this again, pleasure at the idea that Claude wanted to spend time with him. Claude, who seemed to live his life exactly as he wished, who would not spend time with anyone out of pure obligation.

“I should be able to make the time,” Dimitri said, and Claude’s answering smile made that pleasure he felt flower into something he could not ignore.


End file.
